Father says he tried to sound alarm before ex-wife killed their 5-year-old son

DENVER -- A 5-year-old boy from Denver was killed by his mother last week in Montana before killing herself. The boy's father said it never should have happened.

FOX31 Denver Problem Solvers spoke with him and are asking the city tough questions about what could have been done.

The father, Ken Kreuscher, had sought a restraining order against the boy's mother and had court documentation of the mother's erratic actions.

He alleged she was becomingly increasingly paranoid, not taking medications and was more violent toward the child. Yet he said no one intervened.

Five-year-old Kenny Kreuscher was driven to Montana by his mother last weekend. On the night of March 5, she shot Kenny in the head while he slept before killing herself.

"Got there two hours after he died,” Kreuscher said. "He fought for his life for over 12 hours.”

Kreuscher said he had been fighting to save the boy since the couple broke up a few years ago.

“I've been telling everyone in court this was a possibility that this would happen,” Kreuscher said.

Kreuscher showed what he calls a long paper trail of evidence to support claims the boy's mother was becoming increasingly paranoid and dangerous, and that Denver Child Protection Services failed to protect Kenny.

"Just erratic mental illness everywhere and no one really helped me,” Kreuscher said. “And I'm here because I don't want this to happen to anybody else. It's not right what they did.”

But Kreuscher said a female child protection services case worker came to visit him after that.

"And she stood in front of me and pointed at my closet and said, ‘Unless your kid's being stuck in a closet every day or beaten every day, I'm not going to do anything about it, and if you call back, if I hear back from you about this kind of stuff, I'm going to take him from you and her," Kreuscher said.

In a statement, Denver Human Services said: "The loss of this child is an absolute tragedy for this family, their loved ones and friends, and for our community and agency. We are working to understand the circumstances surrounding this horrible act."

Human services said it is restricted by law about how much it can say about the case.

Kenny would have turned 6 on Saturday. His memorial service was held Sunday morning at Red Rocks.